(Newser)
–
A Frenchman has paid the price for texting and calling his ex-girlfriend 21,807 times over a 10-month stretch, France24 reports. The 33-year-old was sentenced to four months in jail and told to pay a roughly $1,300 fine. He admitted in court that he was trying to reach her to receive compensation or a "thank you" for work he did on their apartment: "It was stupid," he said yesterday, RFI reports. "At the time my logic was that until she returns the money, she pays back for work I carried in our apartment, or at least says thank you, I would not stop the calls." Indeed, he kept up the harassment until she finally expressed her thanks in a meeting organized by a mediator.

Before then, she'd tried blocking his calls, but he just called her parents instead, according to the woman's lawyer. The 32-year-old ex apparently received an average of 73 calls per day, including 100 during the hour-and-a-half she spent filing charges against him. She "suffered a lot," says her lawyer, but has since "enjoyed a fantastic summer time, with no phone calls, and hopes it will last." The man's full sentence: ten months in jail (six of which were suspended), along with the fine, mandatory psychiatric treatment, and orders to make no contact at all with his ex-girlfriend. (In other harassment news: A 400-pound cop was charged with stalking boys online as a teenage girl.)